A Greek-qualified lawyer admitted to the Athens Court of Appeals and with an LLM in international and European law, Afroditi Kanellopoulou took on her first significant legal role in 2006, and originally joined cosmetics company APIVITA in 2011, being entrusted with the company’s legal affairs from this point. Roughly a year later, she oversaw the establishment of the company’s legal department, which she recalls as a particular career highlight.

‘This included building communication bridges with senior management’, she explains, ‘and out of these discussions I got an understanding of what my role was in the company. It also helped me to get as close to the management as possible in order to understand their business philosophy, as well as what it is they are trying to accomplish and what the company’s mission is’. Kanellopoulou has expanded the capabilities and coordination of the legal department, and is highly pleased with the results she has achieved.

‘The trust and confidence that has been developed throughout the years with colleagues and stakeholders has put the department at the heart of influencing and shaping the company itself’, she explains. Kanellopoulou mentions the ‘legal support in the expansion of the company’s presence to include the 14 international markets that it currently does’ as well as ‘the legal support in the recent acquisition of the company by a global leading player in the perfumes and cosmetics industry’ as among her and her team’s greatest contributions to the company’s fortunes.

Inspired by ancient Greek history and major thinkers, Kanellopoulou mentions the Socratic philosophical saying often phrased as ‘all I know is that I know nothing’ as having inspired her throughout her career to constantly innovate and approach legal matters with a creative mind-set, while constantly learning.